Need information on a till tap

[skylynne]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon
I won a judgment in small claims court for $3000. Having trouble collecting the judgment lien. The debitor has a small business and doesn't have a cash register. He keeps his money in his pocket. My question is can I do a till tap and have the sherriff's dept.remove money from his pocket?

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon
I won a judgment in small claims court for $3000. Having trouble collecting the judgment lien. The debitor has a small business and doesn't have a cash register. He keeps his money in his pocket. My question is can I do a till tap and have the sherriff's dept.remove money from his pocket?

What kind of business?

 

[skylynne]

What kind of business?

Used car lot

 

[Mark Maroon]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon
I won a judgment in small claims court for $3000. Having trouble collecting the judgment lien. The debitor has a small business and doesn't have a cash register. He keeps his money in his pocket. My question is can I do a till tap and have the sherriff's dept.remove money from his pocket?

You say that "The debtor HAS a small business". Is the defendant (now judgment debtor) a business entity (eg. an Inc. or LLC), or is the defendant an individual?

Is the defendant's small business a separate entity (eg. an Inc. or LLC), or is it just a doing business as name or fictitious business name for the individual defendant?

You can't try to attach assets of a separate business entity that is owned by your individual defendant unless you have a judgment against the separate business entity.

You are not going to get a Sheriff to get a guy to empty his pockets for you.

Answer the first two questions and then you might get some reasonable advice on how to proceed.

 

[skylynne]

You say that "The debtor HAS a small business". Is the defendant (now judgment debtor) a business entity (eg. an Inc. or LLC), or is the defendant an individual?

Is the defendant's small business a separate entity (eg. an Inc. or LLC), or is it just a doing business as name or fictitious business name for the individual defendant?

You can't try to attach assets of a separate business entity that is owned by your individual defendant unless you have a judgment against the separate business entity.

You are not going to get a Sheriff to get a guy to empty his pockets for you.

Answer the first two questions and then you might get some reasonable advice on how to proceed.

He has the business as an individual, it is not an LLC or Inc.

 

[Mark Maroon]

He has the business as an individual, it is not an LLC or Inc.

OK. IF the defendant (now judgment debtor) is an individual who has/runs a small business of selling used cars and that business is not registered as a separate business entity but is simply a dba or fictitious business name that is used by the individual, then the cars that he is selling are presumably either owned by him personally or he is selling them for others on some kind of consignment basis. This would all be a little unusual, since I think most states limit/regulate used car sales such that an individual can only sell so many used cars per year before they have to register in some way as a business. But anyway, IF the used cars are in the defendant's name (or in the name of a dba or fictitious business name that is registered or used to and by the defendant), then they are the defendant's assets, not assets of some separate company, and you can presumably have the sheriff levy on them or tow them. But that can be expensive. Why not find out where he banks and garnish his bank account. That's generally much less expensive and easier.

 

[skylynne]

OK. IF the defendant (now judgment debtor) is an individual who has/runs a small business of selling used cars and that business is not registered as a separate business entity but is simply a dba or fictitious business name that is used by the individual, then the cars that he is selling are presumably either owned by him personally or he is selling them for others on some kind of consignment basis. This would all be a little unusual, since I think most states limit/regulate used car sales such that an individual can only sell so many used cars per year before they have to register in some way as a business. But anyway, IF the used cars are in the defendant's name (or in the name of a dba or fictitious business name that is registered or used to and by the defendant), then they are the defendant's assets, not assets of some separate company, and you can presumably have the sheriff levy on them or tow them. But that can be expensive. Why not find out where he banks and garnish his bank account. That's generally much less expensive and easier.

He doesn't have a bank account. My other option would be to garnish his paypal account, but I'm not sure how to go about this.
Found this about his business, has assumed business name, active business entity status,and he is named as the registrant and authorized representative.

 

[Mark Maroon]

He doesn't have a bank account. My other option would be to garnish his paypal account, but I'm not sure how to go about this.
Found this about his business, has assumed business name, active business entity status,and he is named as the registrant and authorized representative.

It's pretty unusual for someone not to have a bank account. Especially someone who does business with the legitimate public (like selling used cars as opposed to selling crack). It's possible that he has a bank account in the name of the dba/fbn, and he uses that as his personal account (if it's an account in the name of a dba/fbn, then it would be under his personal SSN as opposed to under a separate business TIN/FEIN). You can garnish a paypal account, but PayPal is VERY difficult to deal with (I am dealing with them as we speak), and most people don't really do a significant amount of business through PayPal. But if he has an active PayPal account, even if it doesn't have a lot in it or passing through it, PayPal should be able to tell you where they transfer the funds out to him (presumably his bank account, which you can then garnish). Basically, the problem with PayPal is that you can only get to the PayPal legal department by snail-mail. (If anyone has an actual telephone number or e-mail address for their legal department I'd love to know about it.)

Paypal Inc.
Attention Legal/Civil
2211 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95131

 

[skylynne]

It's pretty unusual for someone not to have a bank account. Especially someone who does business with the legitimate public (like selling used cars as opposed to selling crack). It's possible that he has a bank account in the name of the dba/fbn, and he uses that as his personal account (if it's an account in the name of a dba/fbn, then it would be under his personal SSN as opposed to under a separate business TIN/FEIN). You can garnish a paypal account, but PayPal is VERY difficult to deal with (I am dealing with them as we speak), and most people don't really do a significant amount of business through PayPal. But if he has an active PayPal account, even if it doesn't have a lot in it or passing through it, PayPal should be able to tell you where they transfer the funds out to him (presumably his bank account, which you can then garnish). Basically, the problem with PayPal is that you can only get to the PayPal legal department by snail-mail. (If anyone has an actual telephone number or e-mail address for their legal department I'd love to know about it.)

Paypal Inc.
Attention Legal/Civil
2211 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95131

Now I know why they say winning the case is easy compared to collecting the judgment. This individual is very unstable. I have received over 50 emails from him accusing me of perjury and that he needs more information from me in order to pay the judgment amount. Email from him today stated that his attorney was sending me some papers.
Thanks for the Paypal address

 

[You Are Guilty]

(If anyone has an actual telephone number or e-mail address for their legal department I'd love to know about it.)

The numbers here are usually up to date:
http://www.paypalsucks.com/faqs.shtml

 

[Mark Maroon]

The numbers here are usually up to date:
http://www.paypalsucks.com/faqs.shtml

Thanks, that's a great link, but unless I have missed something, none of the telephone numbers there are direct to the PayPal legal department, and nobody that you talk to at any of those numbers can transfer you to anyone in the PayPal legal department. If I am wrong, I'd love to know the secret handshake.

 

[skylynne]

It's pretty unusual for someone not to have a bank account. Especially someone who does business with the legitimate public (like selling used cars as opposed to selling crack). It's possible that he has a bank account in the name of the dba/fbn, and he uses that as his personal account (if it's an account in the name of a dba/fbn, then it would be under his personal SSN as opposed to under a separate business TIN/FEIN). You can garnish a paypal account, but PayPal is VERY difficult to deal with (I am dealing with them as we speak), and most people don't really do a significant amount of business through PayPal. But if he has an active PayPal account, even if it doesn't have a lot in it or passing through it, PayPal should be able to tell you where they transfer the funds out to him (presumably his bank account, which you can then garnish). Basically, the problem with PayPal is that you can only get to the PayPal legal department by snail-mail. (If anyone has an actual telephone number or e-mail address for their legal department I'd love to know about it.)

Paypal Inc.
Attention Legal/Civil
2211 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95131

I garnished his Paypal account as he does a moderate amount of sales on Ebay. I sent the legal garnishment papers to Paypal and it took about one week for Paypal to lock up his account. Sure got his attention, he is livid and threatens to sue me for $100,000. as he has no access to his Paypal account. I will only recover a small amount of the debt so my question is can I send garnishment papers to his rental tenant to recover more of the debt?
Thanks

Found this site for Paypal phone # and emails
http://consumerist.com/2008/06/06/all-the-secret-paypalebay-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers-you-could-ever-want/

 

[Mark Maroon]

I garnished his Paypal account as he does a moderate amount of sales on Ebay. I sent the legal garnishment papers to Paypal and it took about one week for Paypal to lock up his account. Sure got his attention, he is livid and threatens to sue me for $100,000. as he has no access to his Paypal account. I will only recover a small amount of the debt so my question is can I send garnishment papers to his rental tenant to recover more of the debt?
Thanks

Let the Paypal garnishment "ride" for a while. He may be stupid enough to keep using it such that more funds get put into it and are thereby held for you. It may also crimp his style enough that he may decide to pay the rest of the judgment to get you to release the hold on the Paypal account. Did you ask Paypal for the bank and account number that they "settle" funds to? (In other words, when the defendant wants his money from Paypal, where does Paypal send the money? If Paypal wires the money to the defendant's bank account, then you want to know the bank routing number and account number so that you can garnish that bank account - assuming that bank account is in the name of the defendant.)

WRT his tenant, some states let you garnish payments from a tenant to a landlord (if you have a judgment against the landlord), but it doesn't sound like a good thing to do in this situation. Basically, you will have to convince the tenant to pay you instead of the landlord, and then the tenant will have to deal with the landlord claiming that the tenant is doing something wrong and will be evicted unless he pays his rent. Not a good position for the tenant. Do you really want to squeeze an innocent tenant, and make them deal with your crazy irrational defendant/landlord like that?

If the defendant owns property that he rents out, then why not find out how he pays the mortgage and garnish the bank account that he uses to pay the mortgage (assuming the bank account is in his name). Why not put a lien on that property?

 

[skylynne]

Let the Paypal garnishment "ride" for a while. He may be stupid enough to keep using it such that more funds get put into it and are thereby held for you. It may also crimp his style enough that he may decide to pay the rest of the judgment to get you to release the hold on the Paypal account. Did you ask Paypal for the bank and account number that they "settle" funds to? (In other words, when the defendant wants his money from Paypal, where does Paypal send the money? If Paypal wires the money to the defendant's bank account, then you want to know the bank routing number and account number so that you can garnish that bank account - assuming that bank account is in the name of the defendant.)

WRT his tenant, some states let you garnish payments from a tenant to a landlord (if you have a judgment against the landlord), but it doesn't sound like a good thing to do in this situation. Basically, you will have to convince the tenant to pay you instead of the landlord, and then the tenant will have to deal with the landlord claiming that the tenant is doing something wrong and will be evicted unless he pays his rent. Not a good position for the tenant. Do you really want to squeeze an innocent tenant, and make them deal with your crazy irrational defendant/landlord like that?

If the defendant owns property that he rents out, then why not find out how he pays the mortgage and garnish the bank account that he uses to pay the mortgage (assuming the bank account is in his name). Why not put a lien on that property?

How long can you let a garnishment ride? Do you just write to Paypal legal dept. and ask them in writing for bank account #?

He has a commercial building he leases out and I'm certain he would not evict because he was desperate to lease to this person. I have put a lien on this commercial property.

The previous owner holds the mortgage and I have contacted them twice but they haven't responded.

Found this site for Paypal phone # and emails
http://consumerist.com/2008/06/06/all-the-secret-paypalebay-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers-you-could-ever-want/

 

[Mark Maroon]

How long can you let a garnishment ride?

That depends on your state and the bank/party that you have garnished. In some cases a garnishment is processed as a one-time thing (ie. whatever is in the account on the date the garnishment was received is what you get), but in many cases a bank will continue to hold the account until you end the garnishment. While on hold, deposits can go in, but withdrawals can't go out. I would assume that if there is no change in the amount being held after a couple of months, then it's probably unlikely that there will be any changes thereafter.

Do you just write to Paypal legal dept. and ask them in writing for bank account #?

I doubt that Paypal will just tell you something about their customer. I assume that you would have to send them interrogatories of some kind related to the garnishment or a subpoena of some kind.

He has a commercial building he leases out and I'm certain he would not evict because he was desperate to lease to this person. I have put a lien on this commercial property. The previous owner holds the mortgage and I have contacted them twice but they haven't responded.

You could send a subpoena to the previous owner of the building who the current owner (your defendant) now pays the mortgage to, and ask them for a copy of the most recent check that was used to pay the mortgage.

Found this site for Paypal phone # and emails
http://consumerist.com/2008/06/06/all-the-secret-paypalebay-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers-you-could-ever-want/

If you are able to find a telephone number through which you can actually talk with someone in the Paypal garnishment or levy department, then please post what number you called and what you said to them that got you to someone in the Paypal garnishment or levy department.